Fescue in lawn

Asked June 6, 2017, 2:51 PM EDT

This year is the worst I've ever seen for the tough fescue in my lawn.... it is very agressive and taking over most of the lawn... is there any chemical that I can use to kill this horrible fescue. There is far to much to pull up manually and besides that leaves large bare area in the lawn that just fills in again with the small outlying roots that are present in what blue grass there is.

Arapahoe CountyColorado

1 Response

Selective chemical control - one which only kills the Tall Fescue and not Kentucky Bluegrass (KBG) - is not an option, as is the case with most perennial grassy weed species.

There are limited options with a KBG lawn full of tall fescue:

Tolerate it

Dig out the clumps and spot re-seed or re-sod

If the problem is severe, use a non-selective herbicide with glyphosate (Roundup) to spot treat the areas. This will kill ALL the grasses (including the desirable grass) and then re-seed with KBG.

Below is a helpful link. HOWEVER, TFC herbicide referenced in the last paragraph is no longer produced. Should you decide to use a non-selective herbicide such as Roundup, please read and follow label directions carefully.